


My (Sometimes Interesting But Mostly) Simple Life (With The Robots)

by apieformydean



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Alternate Universe, But i'll try to update more frequently, F/F, F/M, Fluff, I love this story tbh, It's on hiatus more than off it, Lots of lots of headcanons, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some Humor, idk - Freeform, life in the Walter Manor, pre-accident Peter VI, well i guess this story will be a longer one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-03-22 12:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3729604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apieformydean/pseuds/apieformydean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Since my very first year of school, I just didn’t fit in. All the other girls used to play with dolls and plush figures, the boys liked football and cars, but me… I grew up playing chess with robots and repairing clockwork machines. Yeah, I guess I really was a freak."<br/>Petra Anne Walter, second child and only daughter of Peter A. Walter V, was raised mostly by his father's robots. Of course she is a bit odd to other people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OH HAI GUYS so this is my SPG story  
> the family trees (found [here](http://thefangirllifeisgonnakillyou.tumblr.com/post/127713167039/because-i-need-to-work-on-the-past-before-i-can)) and things about the manor are mostly based on Bunny's comic or are original ideas (with some help from online headcanons, which belong to their rightful owners)  
> the story's also a bit crackyyy? i guess?  
> whatever  
> i hope you guys'll enjoy it ^^
> 
> update: i'm constantly fixing mistakes in the story, but if you find anything confusing please tell me about it so i can explain  
> (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Petra recieves some news from Pops.

As the final bell rang, I sighed heavily. The class was silent, but as they heard the ring, everybody seemed to suddenly wake up. Getting out of the classroom was the only thing I could think about. I haven’t had such an awful day for weeks… Exams and homework and projects and stress. It was far more than I could handle. I hoped to get home in twenty minutes from than and sleep till morning.

I pulled my backpack on my shoulder, and shuffled out of the classroom in the sea of people. The corridor was way too overcrowded and I felt awful. Like all the air was pressed out of my lungs. I was suffocating. I tried to get out of the school as fast as possible, without looking like a complete idiot.

Stepping out in the street I could finally breathe. I closed my eyes, then forced myself to open them again and walk in the parking lot. My oil-black car was waiting for me, lonely under a lamp, with no other car nearby. No one wanted to park next to the freak. I really got used to it.

Since my very first year of school, I just didn’t fit in. All the other girls used to play with dolls and plush figures, the boys liked football and cars, but me… I grew up playing chess with robots and repairing clockwork machines. Yeah, I guess I really was a freak.

I got in my car and shut the door.  I took a moment to relax. I threw my bag on the passenger’s seat and leaned back. Just a moment later, a shrieking voice came from behind me.

‘Hey gurl, ya look terrible!’

I jumped a little bit, but when I recognised the voice, relaxed back again. I positioned the rear-view so I could see the two automatron robots sitting behind me.

‘Thanks, Rabbit, I love to hear _that_.’ I sighed. The Spine looked at her with a frown.

‘I have told you countless times; don’t always point out the obvious, Rabbit.’ he said.

‘No, it’s fine.’ I waved. ‘It really was a tough day.’ Too many people and idiotic teachers was not a great combination.

‘Is everything okay, Petra?’ The Spine looked at me suspiciously. I was sure he knew whenever I was lying, but I did anyway.

‘Yeah, sure.’ I tried to sound a bit cheerful, but failed. ‘Just… let’s go home, shall we?’

I started the car. The engine purred as we pulled out on the road.

‘Your car says it’s grateful for the carwash this morning.’ The Spine said, and the first time that day I smiled. It was a small smile, didn’t even last long, but it was there. Maybe the day wasn’t that hopeless after all.

‘Oh, by the w-w-way’ Rabbit singed, putting her hand on the back of my seat and leaning close to me. ‘Pappy has sumthin’ for you.’ she whispered into my ear with a puff of steam.

‘Good or bad news?’ I asked. I’ve learned long time ago that Pops can surprise me with some quite crappy things.

‘Goooood, ofcourse it’s good!’ she cheered. ‘But no more info, candykitty, cuz it’s a surpriiiise.’

‘Whatever.’ I shrugged. ‘I just hope he lets me sleep before.’

Strangely enough, Rabbit didn’t say anything else, and neither did The Spine. He was just glaring at me with his shiny green eyes. As we arrived home, I almost felt like I was guilty or something.

I parked the car in the garage – which was once a small workshop, but since the whole manor was made into one, I altered it into a garage – and made my way into the hall, my robots following me.

Our house was rather odd. The Walter Manor. Yeah, quite sinister. As you stepped in, you had this strange feeling. Like somebody was watching you. Well, since we had more than twenty automatrons at home, and several workers of the family business, you probably were watched. The whole house was filled with the sound of gears and pipes. It was the only home I could imagine for myself.

The grey hall walls were covered by the portraits of my ancestors; the oldest was more than a hundred years old. Colonel Peter A. Walter. The gold frame was a bit dusty, it didn’t fit his strict face. There were also some black and white photos of the first automatrons of the family business: Rabbit, The Spine and The Jon. My eyes wandered over them and stopped on the last one. It was more than ten years old.

Me and The John. My dad took the picture. I was seven back then, and it was the first time dad let me anywhere near to his precious automatrons with a wrench. My hair was tied up with two bows and I wore a little pink dress – that was the afternoon of my first day in school. I felt awful there, because a boy said I was a weirdo. Kids can be so mean. I remember how upset I was when I arrived home. And how happy after dad let me fix the Jon. Something gave the robot a malfunction, it kept on putting his top hat upside down on his head. It was so funny Rabbit laughed for an hour or so.

That photo was black and white as the other ones, and the whole scene seemed to be just as old as the ones from the 1910s.

I missed The Jon terribly. He left a year ago and although my dad said he would come back – ‘He just needs to see the world, sweet pea.’ – I didn’t really believe he would. He said the same as Upgrade did: ‘You won’t even realise I’m gone and I’ll be back.’ She left when I was twelve and didn’t return. And I _did_ realise she was missing. Both of them.

‘We miss him, too.’ The Spine said next to me. ‘But you have to believe he comes back.’

‘You sound like my dad, you know.’ I muttered, and tore my eyes away from the picture. I turned and nearly bumped into Rabbit who was strangely grinning. Well, not really, because robots cannot grin, but you know what I mean.

‘What?’ I asked.

‘Just go to Pappy’s study, w-would you?’ she seemed to be extremely happy and I had no idea why. However, I did as I was told to.

I stepped into the elevator and pushed number 6. The lift started to rise with the sounds of gears and steam.

What great news would Pops have for me? The last “fantastic idea” of him was to move me into another room, because mine was to transform into a storage for his defective experiments. “We don’t throw anything away, sugar. You can never know which one of these will be useful for another robot.” And he meant that for the foot-shaped explosive coffee-machine, too.

The elevator stopped on the 6th floor. Steam was wreathing under the ceiling, the clockwork machines’ squeaky noise filled the hallway, as I stepped out. I walked down the corridor, and since almost the whole house was lacking the doors, I saw my father examining some robots in a storage room.

‘Pops, hey.’ I greeted, but he didn’t turn my way. He was wearing a hat, but even in the misty darkness I could see something was out of order. I kept on speaking, however. ‘So… Rabbit said you had a surprise… for me.’ the last words were only whispers, because the man was slowly turning… but not his body, only his head. It turned in 180 degrees, until his blue glowing photo-receptors were looking straight into my eyes. On his hat was a pipe, slowly letting bluish steam out. A blue round glowing thing was in the middle of his chest, and he had a red moustache.

The first thing that came into my mind was that I didn’t know this automatron. The second, that my father was currently working on a steam powered motorbike. Equals: this was not my father’s robot.

I started to back away, but didn’t take my eyes off the strange machine. It creeped me out big time. It kept on approaching me, so I backed until my back touched the wall. I knew my knees were too weak to run, and didn’t find my voice to shout. His mouth opened, and I shut my eyes, waiting for some flames or anything to come out of there, but they didn’t.

‘Why did the robot go back to school?’ he asked. I opened my eyes and frowned. His voice was smooth, even cute.

‘What…? What kind of question is this?’

‘Just answer me!’ his voice became loud and rough, and I jumped. The glowing of his eyes intensified.

‘I don’t know!’

‘Because his skills were getting a little rusty!’ he said, and his face was like he tried to grin, waiting for my reaction. For a moment I just stood there like I was made of stone, but then laughter busted out of me. He just nodded, and seemed pleased.

‘Oh, darling!’ Pops’ voice came from his study. I saw him standing in the doorway, so I walked to him, followed by the robot. ‘So, you have met Hatchworth! I think he’s gonna stay for a while… if it’s okay with you.’

‘Yeah, sure. Just take a look at his humour level, I think it’s a bit high. And also, his creepy voice must go. But otherwise, he’ll be fine.’

Dad nodded, and took a wrench out of his back pocket. He walked behind Hatchworth and fixed some gears on his back. ‘So, did you find it somewhere or what?’ I asked.

‘Oh, no, honey, it wasn’t _me_.’ he smiled. I didn’t understand at first, but then…

‘Pete’s home?’ I asked happily. My voice was higher than usual. I didn’t know how long I waited to ask this.

‘He and Marshmallow were wandering down in the basement, when they found Hatchworth… his power core was broken, but we’ve fixed it. Peter must be in his room.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you very much for readiiing:3 the next chapter will come... soon?  
> idk yet  
> i guess it depends on the feedback  
> so comment on ^3^


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Peter has a strange surprise for his sister.

Hatchworth walked me to Peter’s room, and told me terrible jokes meanwhile. He was now oddly comforting, however. The Spine and Rabbit were probably in the kitchen – since Potts was the only one working there, they usually helped her.

In the house lived some human employees, but there were more automatrons. Like Potts was the chef, Rosie the gardener, Wheelma was dad’s chauffeur, Flawrence the washing machine and a lot other. I considered them humans, though. All of them had their own personalities.

Peter was living in a huge room on the 2nd floor, because he needed space for Marshmallow. Well, he was barely at home, but when he was, he and the cat were inseparable. The huge white pet was alone, when Pete went away, and he didn’t really fancy me. I don’t know, why.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that as a kid I loved to braid his fur. Whatever.

We arrived to Peter’s room, but it was empty. Except for Dustin.

He was the houseman, and his main task was to clean my and Pete’s room. He was totally like a real young man, only made of metal and gears. Also, he loved to speak German. I never got to know, why. That was his malfunction.

‘ _Halo, mein Schatz!_ ’ he greeted. He was leaning on a sweeper, which was apparently replacing his forearm.

‘Dustin, have you seen my brother?’ I asked, a bit harshly.

‘ _Ah, Peter ist vielleicht in der Küche, meine Liebe._ ’ he smiled at me, and his purple eyes were glowing happily.

It wasn’t like I hated him or anything. He just annoyed me to death. I was fifteen when dad built him, and since then he had this idea of us dating. Something must have been broken in him. He was too much like a real human being it was disturbing. As all my dad’s machines, he also had feelings. Stupid Blue Matter.

‘Küche means kitchen, doesn’t it?’ I asked Hatchworth, who clearly had no idea what I was talking about. I was learning German for some years, but clearly wasn’t the best in it.

‘ _So klug, Baby._ ’ Dustin said in a dreamy tone.

‘Oh gods.’ I groaned and left as quickly as possible. I heard him saying goodbye but didn’t bother to do so myself.

‘Why don’t you like him?’ Hatchworth asked, as we were walking down the stairs.

‘I… I’d say we have a strange relationship.’

‘Please explain?’

‘Eh, I’d rather not.’ I grimaced, but the automatron looked at me as if I was hiding some guilty secret. ‘I just avoid him, if possible, okay? Look, if I hated him, I’d already have dissembled him, right?’

‘Yeah, I s’pose so.’

Silence fell between us as we made the rest of the way to the kitchen.

The hallway had some ancient chandeliers, brownish wallpaper and the sense of being watched became more haunting. Since I’ve been living here my entire life, I got used to it. Electric sounds came from the H.O.W., but as it was apparently one of the only rooms with a door, I chose to leave QWERTY alone. I really didn’t want to interrupt him in anything he was doing.

‘Oh my sweet pie, what on Earth are you two doing?!’ Potts shrieked, just as we arrived. Peter was sitting at the dining table, with Marshmallow, a jar of peanut butter in his hands. He was eating it with a lollipop used as a spoon. He also put some of the butter on the 16-feet-tall cat’s paw, and he licked it happily. ‘I’m making you a wonderful dinner here, Peter VI, will you just put that thing…’

‘Relax, Potts dear, it’s just peanut butter!’ Pete laughed. ‘And I’ve already told you, darling: you should rest sometimes, you’re always in here. You deserve better! Maybe a walk outside with Bus-boy?’ Peter added, sweetly smiling, and I almost laughed out loudly. I knew exactly what his intentions were with this. Although he was already turning 28, he didn’t seem to be an adult human being.

Potts just chuckled, and I was sure she would have blushed if she had been able to do so. She and Bus-boy, our waiter had some inside jokes and they spent a lot of time together. They were so cute. She just waved at Peter’s idea and left.

‘You are not going to get away with this.’ I told him, and he jumped. He turned and his blue eyes glowed up. His hair was a blond mess, and he grinned widely.

‘Petra!’ Pete immediately left the jar, rushing to me and hugging me tightly. I squeaked. He got stronger since the last time. He realised I was suffocating, so he quickly let go of me.

‘Hey.’ he smiled as an apology.

‘Hi.’ I laughed, still a bit out of air. ‘Hello, Marshmallow.’ I greeted the cat, but he just wafted his tail, as the sign of welcoming my greeting. He didn’t turn my way, but I just grinned at it. He’s always been like that.

‘Come, I have some peanut butter left, we can share.’

I sat next to him.

‘So how is my favourite little sister?’ he asked, grinning. His blue eyes were tracing between me and the jar – which he was still holding in his hand, for himself.

‘I’m fine, just doing school… and that’s all.’ I didn’t tell him about how I was bored to death there and that nobody really liked me, because he couldn’t change that in the first place and I didn’t want to bother him. ‘But why am I talking? You are the one who left for months to have “the greatest adventures ever”.’ I chuckled. ‘Where have you been, Pete?’

‘Okay, so you know about the Dandy Candy mines in Africa, right?’ he asked excitedly. I knew he was more interested in telling me his story than he was in listening to mine but I wasn’t mad. That’s just how he was.

I nodded. ‘So the Babclock family are our good friends for like a hundred years and they needed me at the opening ceremony of a new shop there. For the press and everything.’ he waved his lollipop in the air. ‘That was a fun week!’ he said, ignoring the fact that is obviously was not a week. ‘On Monday they gave me the best room _ever_ \- with a chocolate fountain, Petra, you should have seen it! -, on Tuesday there was an explosion in the mine while we were held the shop opening just above it, on Wednesday they let me try the new Vulcan Candies, on-’

‘Wait, what? What explosion?’ I asked, only a bit worried. I knew Pete wouldn’t let anybody get hurt. ‘Is everyone okay?’

‘Uhm well, the old Babclock died.’ he noted casually, eating his peanut butter.

‘What?!’

‘Not then, kid.’ he smiled and touched the tip of my nose with the lollipop. ‘In his sleep, on Friday. So I stayed and built the family a robot who takes care of the shop for a while now.’

‘But what about the mine? What caused the explosion?’ I asked, still concerned.

‘The security system broke down. They fixed it. I guess.’ Peter shrugged. He peered down in his jar and suddenly looked up at me with wide eyes. ‘There’s no more left. I’m sorry, Petra.’

‘It’s okay.’ I just laughed. Typical. ‘You can have all the peanut butter you can find in the manor. I’m just glad you made it home in one piece.’ I hugged his neck again.

‘Oh, I almost forgot!’ he jumped up, surprising me. He looked around as if looking for something. ‘I got you a present. Just wait for me here!’ he ran out of the kitchen.

I sat down at the huge dining table and looked out of the window, at the garden. I immediately found Pete’s petunias. Rosie always loved Peter best, of course she planted some for his return. The sun was high in the sky and there were no clouds. It was as clear as it gets to be in early May. Some of Pops’ old automatron sparrows were sitting in the huge green canopies of the trees, and I was wondering what they could be talking about. Probably that creepy new scarecrow next to the gate. Who could have possibly put that thing there? Maybe it was for Granny Wanda again… nowadays she had stranger and stranger wishes.

‘I’m here!’ Pete shouted, getting hit by the doorframe as he run into the kitchen. His face was flushed, hair ruffled. ‘So you know what I brought home for my fav lil sis?’ he was grinning in spite of being out of air. I smiled at him patiently as he put down the small object on the table.

It was a glass block, only so big that he could hide it between his palms, and in it…

‘What _is_ this, Pete?’ I asked, but I was afraid of the answer. It was a green stone-like thing, glowing brightly.

‘It is, my dearest Petra,’ and I knew it was trouble because of the wicked grin on his face, ‘a piece of Green Matter, closed in diamond. Isn’t it wonderful?’ he was eyeing the little thing as if it were the 8th wonder of the world. ‘You know, when good old P. A. Walter I was of my age, this bad guy was one of the world’s best sources of energy. With this amount’ he took it in his hand again, raising it towards the window so sunlight shone through it, ‘you could drive your car for days. Maybe a week.’

I knew that. I knew all of that, as soon as I looked at the small transparent energy-trap.

‘Peter, why did you take this home? I mean, you know what this thing is capable of…’

‘It’s fairly harmless as long as it’s in there.’ he knocked on the small object with one finger. ‘Don’t you like it?’ he asked with such a hurt expression that I started to feel ungrateful.

‘I do! It _is_ wonderful, just…’

‘I knew you’ll love it!’ he grinned, not waiting for my complaining.

I just sighed, putting the small object in the pocket of my flannel shirt. I thought about getting rid of it for a moment, but then decided it was the safest to keep it in my room. If I threw it away, it could be found by bad people and I couldn’t risk that.

‘Thank you.’ I smiled at him eventually.

‘No prob, kiddo.’ he seemed to be happy again.

The Green Matter has always been considered as a bad thing in our family. Bacile Industries, our main concurrent, had been using it for decades, and a lot of their new experiments ended in fire or explosion. It could turn people who were working with it into zombie-like brainless monsters, and Peter knew it just as well as I did. It was clearly just a decoration now, and I hoped diamond was really able to tame it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm very sorry it took me so long to continue it, but i'm the worst procastinator in the world T-T i still hope you liked this one!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Petra meets a very interesting young man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me for-fudging-ever to write, but it's finally finished! Enjoy lovelies :3

I knew I couldn’t tell Pops what Pete got me as a present. Peter must have paid a fortune for it and I didn’t want Dad to tell him it was a mistake.

Lately, Pete was rarely home. It seemed like he had plenty of things to discover in the world and I understood it completely. I wanted to go with him and travel the Earth (and multiply other dimensions) but that was, of course, impossible. I had to finish high-school and get into a good engineering college.

Although I never fully understood why. There was the family business – I already knew I wanted to work there, and Pops taught me everything there was to this job. I was also sure The Spine could have explained history and maths, and Rabbit would have been able to teach me languages and literature. Mom wanted me to socialize, but it was like torture for me in my class. It was a total waste of time and energy.

I was thinking about such things in the school cafeteria the next day. I sat in a quiet corner, next to the window facing the schoolyard. I was alone, as usual. I had two more lessons, and I didn’t want to be late, so I ate my jam sandwich quickly. I took a look at my timetable and sighed. German.

The robots popped in my head again. They were possibly at home, still being tuned to each other. Pops hit upon the idea of making Hatchworth into the new member of Rabbit and the Spine’s music band, Steam Powered Giraffe. He collected all three of them, and with Steve, their sound engineering guy, they spent the whole night tuning up Hatchy in the North wing of the Manor. At 1:30 am I saw Michael and Matt stopping by the kitchen to grab something to eat on their way to the Sound Saloon. They were out with some friends when Pops called them to come home immediately.

I finished my sandwich, and checked my phone. I had to be quick to make it, so grabbed my bag and walked out of the cafeteria to the schoolyard.

There were a bunch of teenagers, sitting under the few trees, having a picnic, chatting or just relaxing. The yard was surrounded by the school building, except the gate which overlooked the street.

And that was the moment I felt it. My stomach twisted a little bit, and it felt like my lungs were too big to be contained by my chest.

Like I was being watched.

I wasn’t exactly paranoid, but I knew when somebody was staring at me. That was the benefit of coming from a creepy and crowded manor as ours.

I wished I could just let the feeling go, but I couldn’t. I took a look around. Everything was normal, except the gate. I recognised a dark figure in the shadow, and my breathing stopped for a moment.

The person under the gateway, when realised I saw him, turned around and left. The last thing I saw were the tall top hat and blonde curls. Too familiar to dismiss. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Before I could think about it twice, I was rushing to the gate, my boots thumping against the concrete. Nobody realised I was leaving.

I literally fell out of the exit, looking around on the street. It was not too busy, since the whole district must have gone to work or to school. It was not hard to spot the man in black clothes and red suspenders. He just turned the corner, and was too far away for me to call his name, so I ran.

It has never been my strong spot, but I managed to make it rather fast. If I would have been in better mood, I’d have given myself a pat on the back. But now, that I saw the guy was almost another block away from me, I had to sprint again. My bag was banging against my back, my side hurt like hell, and my feet were sore in the boots, but I couldn’t stop. Those Chucks, the top hat with a peacock’s feather… it was too good to be true.

But how could he be so damn fast?!

Oh, yeah, _right_. He was a robot.

When I turned the corner, he was gone. My legs stopped, but my brain was burning with questions. If he saw me, why didn’t he wait for me? Was it really him? Or was I just dehydrated and hallucinating?

“The Jon!” I shouted, and I didn’t really expect an answer, but was disappointed nonetheless when I didn’t receive one.

Frustrated, I leaned against the wall, trying to breath normally again. My heart was also beating madly, and literally sore – the latter surely not because of the running. When I was breathing like a human being again, I just took another look at the corner where he disappeared. I wanted to go home. _Yeah, that’s what I’m going to do_ – I decided. I have already missed my German lesson, so there was no point in going back. I turned around and-

“Oh, dear me, I’m so sorry.” the man, who bumped into me almost knocked me down to the ground. Luckily, there was a wall behind me, so I fell against it. He could also lean against it with both hands, so he didn’t fall on me.

All I saw at first were his huge emerald eyes. His lashes were like a mile long, and his brows were elegant. He also had the fluffiest hair ever, poking in all directions. However, I could tell he spent a lot of time in the morning with it so it looked like that. I felt my cheeks heat up, and I had to glance away from him, down at my hands. He was wearing light blue jeans and a plain white shirt, as if he just stepped out of a magazine.

“I’m sorry.” he repeated, and pushed himself back on his feet, helping me to stand steadily again. “Are you hurt?” he tried to look at me in the eye, but I kept on avoiding it.

“I’m fine, thanks.” it came out a bit more harshly than I intended to say it.

“I don’t know how it happened, but I didn’t see you.” he smiled a bit, apologetically. “I really have no idea how it could have happened. You are not somebody a man takes no notice of.” his smile grew, and I glanced up at him. This guy… was he complimenting me?

“Well, you obviously were too busy with something else, if you missed the fact I was standing right here.” I said, and I surprised myself how cheeky my voice was. One of his brows went up high at my comment, and he grinned.

“I’ll make sure not to make the same mistake again.” he promised, but I didn’t know how he meant it. “I hope you’ll let me make it up to you somehow.”

“Like you come round the corner again, not knocking me over this time?” I asked, now smiling, too. He let out a small laugh, and his voice was so smooth I completely forgot I was angry with him.

“I through about coffee, actually.” he put his hands in his pockets, and his eyes glowed like emerald. For a moment, I had no words. Should I go and have a coffee with somebody I don’t even know, or should I stay here and wait, hoping the Jon would come back, or should I go home… I knew if I chose going home I would have spent the whole day thinking about what I saw, or at least thought I saw. Staying here was even more painful, so I chose the third opportunity.

“Do you know any good coffee shop near here?” He grinned again, and I felt like it was the beginning of a really strange story.

 

 

Buster, his name was.

We found a cute little shop, hidden in an alleyway, with pink tables and grey walls. I normally couldn’t stand pink, but it wasn’t that awful after all. Also, I had other things to pay attention to.

I would have insisted to pay for my coffee myself if I had money with me but I didn’t, so Buster bought two espressos, and we sat by the door. Sunrays painted the windows yellow. We were alone in there, and stayed even after the coffee was long forgotten.

“So you know what it feels like being surrounded by dysfunctional robots all the time.” he smiled at me, when I told him my dad was an engineer, just like his.

“You have no idea.” I shook my head.

“What do you mean?” he asked softly.

“Pops is like, the craziest man on Earth. We have all sorts of automatrons.” I explained. I didn’t know how I had the courage or why I decided it was a good idea to tell a complete stranger about our life. He just seemed to be interested, and it felt totally new, yet great, having somebody being interested in anything I said.

“Humanoid robots, huh?” he asked, grinning. “Believe me, my family is just as weird as yours.”

“I have never heard about anything nearly as odd as Walter Robotics.” I added, feeling the urge to defend the family business. Buster was silent for a moment, and when I peered up from my cup, I saw his eyes widening.

“Wal… you are the old Walter’s daughter?” he asked quietly.

“I mean, as far as I know, yeah.” I answered, frowning. Buster was twenty-four, I didn’t think he knew the school gossips about me being a Satanist geek who is antisocial and sacrifices hens to demons on Saturdays.

“I just- really didn’t… expect you to be like this.” he was smiling again, but his expression changed. “Petra Walter.” he said, trying it for the first time.

“Wait, so you know Pops?... Or Pete?” I asked, and hoped not. I and Buster were talking about everything, like, _everything_. It seemed like finally I had somebody for myself.

I never had a proper friend. All those people who were living with us… Michael, Matt, Steve, the Walter workers… they were more like family. The robots, too.  All I had were them, but it wasn’t the case vice versa. The boys from SPG all had their own friends outside the Manor, Pete always made some buddies in other universes, and Pops had a few mates from around the world.

Now, that I came across somebody they didn’t know, I really didn’t fancy the idea of sharing.

“Gosh, _no_. I mean, not directly.” he corrected himself. “Everybody in the technological world knows the Walters.” he explained with wide gestures. He was excited.

“Yeah. You are chatting with a celebrity here.” I joked, but felt myself blushing. People usually didn’t have this reaction when they got to know about my family. “But hey, you still have to tell me about yourself. I mean, you can’t just go ‘I know how it feels to be surrounded by automatrons’ and leave me with that.”

“Well, maybe another time.” he gave me a lopsided smile and I was so curious but I just couldn’t push the subject. Not with that smile on his face. “Yours is far more interesting than mine.”

So we talked about my family. I told him about Pops, about Pete, Steam Powered Giraffe and just our lives in general. In the meantime, he paid and we were walking down the road, towards his car, since he offered me a ride home. I didn’t reject it; I didn’t really have any other option, I was too far from home. And didn’t want to stop talking to him, either. I even mentioned the people living with us and that The Jon’s place will finally be filled. He seemed a bit more interested in that part than all the others.

“So your dad built another one of The Jon?” he asked, walking next to me nonchalantly, hands in his pockets.

“No, he doesn’t do that.” I shook my head. “He believes each and every robot has a soul and a personality that cannot and shouldn’t be recreated. I believe the same. He couldn’t make another The Jon, even if he wanted to.” I explained, trying to ignore the sadness in my voice.

“I see. I’m sorry.” he said and I nodded with a sad smile.

“But Hatchworth is great, too.” I shrugged. “He was broken but Pops and Pete fixed him so he runs just fine. Even his little hatch, which is a bit scary. But whatever, he’s already the part of the family.”

“What is he like?” he asked, a little bit too eagerly and I raised an eyebrow, looking at him. He didn’t seem to realise it, just waited for my answer.

“Kind of strange. His humour and his wit are odd but nothing that can’t be repaired with some wrenches. You know, perks of being a steampunk automatron running on Blue Matter.”

We arrived to his car. It was red and beautiful. I could tell it was brand new and worth too much money. He opened the door for me. I accepted it with a smile and sat in. He got in as well and we were soon on the road, back towards where I came from, chasing the robot. I didn’t want to speak to him about it, though, because I still wasn’t sure what I saw. I was just about to tell him the directions but he shook his head.

“That’s okay, Petra, I know where the Manor is.” he smiled a toothy smile. Oh, yes. I forgot he was a person who actually knew what Walter Industries was. “Please, tell me more about that hatchy guy. What’s his name again?”

“Hatchworth.” I told him but frowned. “You are really interested in him, aren’t you?”

“Well, I like the music of SPG so of course I’m interested in the new member.” he spoke, still smiling, eyes on the road. I felt dumb. Why must I have been suspicious with him? He was the nicest person I met in weeks. Probably months.

“Yes, of course, sorry.” I looked down in my lap. “He can take things out of his hatch like it’s nothing, I have no idea where those come from. Sandwiches, small animals, a whisk… It can be unsettling.” I looked up when the car actually stopped moving. Huh. Maybe we weren’t so far from our manor that I assumed. We were parking in front of the main gate and the silence started to become awkward.

“I… uh. Thank you for the ride, Buster.” I nodded and opened the car’s door, getting out quickly.

“Wait!” he called after me hesitantly just as I got out so I bent down to look at him. “I really liked talking to you…” he admitted, blushing a bit and I had to grin.

“Me too.”

“So… I-I mean… hold on.” he put up a hand and rummaged a bit in his back pocket before taking out his wallet. He opened it and slipped a business card in my hand. “Just call me if you feel like it, okay?” he smiled and I nodded. “See you.”

“Bye.” I responded as the engine roared and Buster drove away. I watched the flame-coloured car as it made his way towards the city centre. He was really sweet. And I already wanted to call him, to hear his voice again. I wondered after how much time was it appropriate. I took a look at the small business card. It was bright green, just as Buster’s eyes.

Yet, when I saw the all-too-familiar logo in the middle of it, I stopped breathing. Eventually, I barely could make out the name under it.

Buster Becile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Complications, huh?


End file.
